Roughly 20 years ago, the NBA revolved around just a handful of teams: The Boston Celtics, the Chicago Bulls, the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Lakers and occasionally, the Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz and the Portland Trailblazers.
These teams featured rosters filled with two or three All-Stars and future Hall of Famers.
And no one had a problem with it.
In fact, it’s revered as the Golden Age of the NBA.
So why is it any different now? Why are we so bitter about superstars teaming up? Is it because we forgot the past?
That trend of stars playing with stars began again in earnest nearly four years ago, when the Boston Celtics acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in the summer of 2007 to team with Paul Pierce. It continued with LeBron James and Chris Bosh signing with the Miami Heat last summer.
Then, there was the now infamous toast at Carmelo Anthony’s wedding last summer – you know, the one where Chris Paul, Amare Stoudamire and Anthony toasted to playing together in New York for the Knicks.
The latest is the trade of Anthony to the Knicks from the Denver Nuggets, after Anthony basically told Denver to trade him because they would face long odds of resigning him. The Nuggets, for their part, were terrified of being LeBron’d – since James left the Cleveland Cavaliers during free agency, they didn’t get anything back. (Sorry, I don’t acknowledge the ridiculous compensation pick they were awarded by the league as compensation for losing James.)
In a way, Anthony did the Nuggets a favor. Instead of just signing with the Knicks this summer (well, presumably, since there’s a pesky little collective bargaining issue looming), Anthony gave the Nuggets ample opportunity to trade him and get value in return. And they did – four of the Knicks starters, three draft picks and $3 million.
It’s honorable of us as fans to long for a mystical time when professional athletes sought their own path.
It’s human nature for us to say that we wouldn’t go about it like LeBron did, televising “The Decision” and ripping the hearts out of Cavs fans.
And we can speculate freely that we would want to win a title “on our own” without help because we’re really not in that position.
What’s comical is former NBA stars pretending history isn’t repeating itself. Last summer, it seemed like everyone on the 90s All-Stars had a quote about it. His Airness, Michael Jordan, said he’d never do what LeBron did. Same for Charles Barkley.
Funny, as I recall, Jordan played with Scottie Pippen – and only won titles with Scottie Pippen. LeBron didn’t have anyone who could even resemble Scottie Pippen’s skill set in seven years in Cleveland.
Funny, as I recall, Barkley forced his way out of Philadelphia to Phoenix, where he played with Kevin Johnson and Dan Majerle to have a better chance at a championship. Then, in the later stages of his career, The Round Mound of Rebound played with Clyde Drexler, Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston, trying to get a ring.
Um, fellas…I don’t see the difference between you, James, Bosh and Anthony in that regard.
What’s different about how the Celtics came together with Allen and Garnett joining Pierce, versus James and Bosh joining Dwayne Wade in Miami? Their age?
Maybe we just felt bad for Garnett for wasting his prime toiling away in Minnesota. Ray Allen is Jesus Shuttlesworth, a pure shooter, and seemingly a nice guy, so we gave them a pass.
But what’s different about it, really? Bosh certainly isn’t Garnett’s talent, but he toiled away in Toronto for seven years. James saved Cleveland basketball for seven years, took them to the Finals and won MVPs with the likes of Boobie Gibson as a running mate.
How can we hate a guy like James, who spent seven years making his teammates better, because he basically wanted better teammates? Why does he have to make them so much better, year after year? Why not go play with better teammates and focus on other aspects of the game?
Perhaps the focus of our rage is or should have been on the character they showed in the process. Which, as I have written before, I completely agree with.
You can handle yourself better, LBJ.
You too, Melo.
You can show respect for the fans that turned out in droves, bought your jersey and were witnesses.
That aside, we’re all hypocrites.
Can any of you honestly say, with a straight face, you wouldn’t want to work with your friends? That you wouldn’t want to work in Miami, New York or Los Angeles?
That’s what this all comes down to. Do professional athletes get paid more than you do in your 9-5? Is the job more fun than TPS reports and Excel spreadsheets? More attention and glamor in the NBA than in Human Resources or Finance?
Undoubtedly, yes to all those questions.
I would work with five or six of my closest friends in a heartbeat if the situation presented itself, period. Add in that we have some of the best skill sets for our respective positions, it increases our chance of success.
And if someone told me we could do that in Florida or California instead of Cleveland, Minneapolis or Indianapolis, I wouldn’t even hesitate.
We forget that these people are human.
That doesn’t mean you have to agree or sympathize – or like it.
But tell me you can see the reasons why.
Let’s look at it this way: Since 1984, only seven different teams have won an NBA championship (Boston Celtics, L.A. Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat). Of those, only the 2004 Pistons didn’t have a superstar – just a bunch of really good players with different skill sets that complimented each other.
Many of those teams featured multiple All-Stars or superstars.
Combine that with how fans and media increasingly weight championships and multiple championships into an athlete’s legacy, guys know they have to team up with someone to win a title. It’s either that, or pushing management to get better talent around them.
Jordan did it.
Barkley did it.
Kobe Bryant tried to get traded just three years ago because of it. The Lakers promptly brought in Pau Gasol and have been to the NBA Finals three years running, winning the last two titles.
As fans, we say we want athletes to do it alone, but when have we ever willingly done it ourselves?
If you play open gym, pick-up basketball or a Y-League, do you pick the four worst guys or the four best?
If you coach a Little League team, do you take the best player and then surround him with lesser players intentionally, just to see if he can carry you, because that’s all you need?
If you work on a project team, do you want team members that have made mistakes and are apathetic about their jobs, or do you want someone in each position – all the way down to who answers the phones – who’s done it before, won awards and is recognized as one of the best?
How about if you were in a legal dispute? Do you want one good lawyer, or would you prefer a team of them?
It’s obvious we’re asking professional athletes to make decisions in the exact opposite manner we would.
Now, would I televise my decision to join a project finance team? Probably not. Nor would I say that I was taking my talents to Company X.
It may be that what we’re really frustrated about is the ego, the fame, the glory and the poor manner in which these athletes conduct themselves. They have so much that we want, that we believe we would do anything for – the talent or the opportunity, that we can’t believe they act this way. We’re allowed and entitled to be disgusted by it, to despise them for it in some ways.
Let’s just not be hypocrites, too.
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